Washington (CNN) - Conservatives gathered Thursday for the first day of the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) that promised speeches from and discussions with leading Republican lawmakers, analysts and pundits. The three day meeting in Washington will culminate with a much-watched straw poll Saturday. Check back here for updates from our reports and producers throughout the day and watch the remarks live here. Read more here.
9:28 p.m. ET - Ryan also weighed in on the current flap over required health insurance coverage for contraception. The Wisconsin representative said it was an example of the "government inventing a new right that trumps the constitutional right to freedom of faith."

9:22 p.m. ET - Ryan called for a president in the style of the late President Ronald Reagan.

"Boldness and clarity create the best opportunity for a winning coalition," he said.

9:17 p.m. ET - Ryan said trust in the government was at an all-time low because the size of government was at an all time high.

He added that the election could not just be a referendum on Obama, but rather a choice between two visions from America.

5:44 p.m. ET - @KilloughCNN reports: Chelsea Haley, a junior at the University of Georgia, described Paul's fiery attacks against Obama as reasonable.Follow the Ticker on Twitter: @PoliticalTicker

"It's all fair. He knows what he's talking about," Haley said, while standing with friends in the hotel lobby after the speech.

While Haley hasn't decided who she'll vote for in the primary, she said she was an early supporter of former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty before he dropped out of the race in August.

"I just felt like I could connect with him," she said.

5:20 p.m. ET - Sen. Paul said the Republican party is in the process of discovering who its next leader will be ... but no mention of his father, Republican presidential candidates Rep. Ron Paul.

5:13 p.m. ET - Second Paul question for the president: "Do you hate poor people or do you just hate poor people with jobs?"

5:10 p.m. ET - Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky opened his CPAC speech with a question for the president: "Do you hate all rich people or just those who aren't campaign contributors?"

5:05 p.m. ET - @CRrileyCNN: What's the over-under on how many times Herman Cain namedrops his website in this speech?

5:02 p.m. ET - During his speech, Cain endorsed "Joe the Plumber" or Joseph Wurzelbacher, who rose to fame during the 2008 presidential election and is currently a Congressional candidate in Ohio.

4:57 p.m. ET - Rep. Cory Gardner of Colorado, a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, led his criticism of Obama and the Environmental Protection Agency by invoking the Keystone oil pipeline.

"You heard in the State of the Union when the president got in front of the American people and said that he was for an all-of-the-above energy policy," Rep Gardner said. "But I would remind you that just days before, he nixed the Keystone XL Pipeline."

"And so my guess is that all-of-the-above is something that Yogi Berra might have said, 'I'm for all of the above, unless it's all of the above,'" he added.

4:56 p.m. ET - Cain said he quit the presidential race because of "gutter politics" and because he "chose to put family first."

4:50 p.m. ET - Former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain started his remarks but taking a jab at Obama he frequently used on the campaign trail.

"Just so that there is no confusion, these teleprompters are not for me," he said pointing to the two on either side of him. "I don't do teleprompters."

4:08 p.m. ET - A clip of MSNBC host Rachel Maddow appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press" played in the introduction to the CPAC "All-Star Panel," in which she said conservatives were "waging war on contraception."

The clip was promptly booed by the audience. But nationally syndicated radio host Roger Hedgecock received cheers for his response: "I think she is the best argument in favor or her parents using contraception. I would be all for that and the rest of the crowd at MSNBC too for that matter."

4:00 p.m. ET - @KilloughCNN reports: An example of the heavy tea party presence at CPAC: People are passing out the "Tea Party Manifesto," a book by Joseph Farah, founder and editor of WorldNetDaily.

It's billed as a "road map" for "citizens to extricate themselves from the overreaching grip of government and reclaim the beliefs of the Founding Fathers."

3:37 p.m. ET - Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, said Republicans need to unite to end Occupy DC (a reference to the Obama presidency), which he said has dominated for 1,115 days that he hopes will end on Jan. 20, 2013, when a Republican president is sworn in.

3:32 p.m. ET - @KilloughCNN reports: Overheard at CPAC: "I'm seeing Santorum and Newt stickers everywhere, but I haven't seen any Romney people."
3:22 p.m. ET - @KilloughCNN reports: At 15 years old, Justin Schuessler stands out among the packed crowds of working professionals at CPAC. But the high school sophomore, who's missing two days of school to be here, said he's having an "amazing" time.

His dad made a nearly two-hour drive from Edgewood, Maryland to drop him off this morning, then headed to work as a pastor at a church outside of Washington, D.C.

Schuessler said he's "always been really interested in politics," that is, since the ripe age of 10, when he first started to listening to Rush Limbaugh on the radio with his dad.

While Schuessler was a Rick Perry fan when the Texas governor was still a candidate, he said he now favors another Rick.

"If I was old enough to vote, I'd vote for Rick Santorum," he said. "He's a pretty staunch conservative and knows what he believes in."

2:46 p.m. ET - @KilloughCNN reports: Victoria Dooling, who manages tea party relations at TeaParty.net, also said she expects the 2012 elections to feel slightly different than the tea party-centric campaigns two years ago.

"Everyone was sort of mad then. This year they've all said we are now ready to go to work," she said. "The madness has turned into focused work."

2:43 p.m. ET - @KilloughCNN reports: When asked to name the candidate with the strongest tea party values today, several supporters of the conservative grassroots movement have had a hard time coming up with an answer.

"That's a tough one," one woman from Nevada said, as her friend nodded in agreement.

Several people have pointed to Herman Cain, saying his famous 9-9-9 tax plan captured the tea party goals of smaller government and "fiscal sanity."

It's a pattern Victoria Dooling said she is seeing among tea party groups nationwide. Dooling manages tea party relations at TeaParty.net and works with supporters all over the country.

"I think every tea party I have talked to has said they wish he were still in the race," she said.

2:25 p.m. ET - Kirk Cameron, of "Growing Pains" fame, told the audience it is their responsibility to "teach their children the right world view."

"Hope for my family's future and our nation does not begin at the White House, it begins at your house and at my house," Cameron said.

2:19 p.m. ET - @KilloughCNN reports: Ron Dove, a tea party supporter, traveled from Arizona to attend CPAC for the third time.

"Seems like there's more of a buzz this year," he said, talking about the conference. "It's crazy. But then again, it's always been crazy."

"Aggies never lose, we just run out of time," Perry said. "My presidential campaign just ran out of time."

Although he is no longer a candidate for the White House, Perry said "a committed 10th amendment conservative I will be until the last breathe I draw in my body."

1:54 p.m. ET - @PeterHambyCNN: Rick Perry comes out to Muse at CPAC
1:37 p.m. ET - More on the dating symposium from @KilloughCNN: Asked what are some relationship challenges specifically faced by conservatives, Elise said sometimes they can be somewhat "stiff."

"I know it's a little cliche but it is kinda true," he said, adding that it is OK to let loose and be a little "wacky" sometimes.

Several audience members suggested "gun club" as a great first date. See a picture of the gathering here.

1:33 p.m. ET - To prove a political point, House Speaker John Boehner painted a hypothetical picture for 2014, when he predicted there will be a Republican in the White House and a Republican-controlled Senate. He said the "utopia" would include economic freedom, lower tax rates, entitlement program reform, the implementation of Rep. Paul Ryan's budget, falling gas prices and the repeal of "Obamacare."

1:31 p.m. ET - @KilloughCNN reports: At a session on dating lessons for conservatives, dating coach Wayne Elise, 43, told a room of about 50 people there was one "kiss of death" on first dates.

"If you're boring, you're done," he said. "Never be boring."

1:25 p.m. ET - Ralph Reed, founder and chairman of the Faith and Freedom Coalition said he "likes Rick Santorum's candidacy," which focuses on the family structure.

"To restore America's economic strength you must first restore America's ... families and homes," Reed said summing up Santorum's message.

1:10 p.m. ET - Tactics similar to those former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani once used on organized crime should be employed to deal with some Latin American countries unfriendly to the United States, CPAC panelists said Thursday.

"My conclusion today is that we should treat these states, particularly the ones that we have mentioned here today - Cuba, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Bolivia, and probably Nicaragua - not so much as ideological adversaries which they are but as organized crime entities," former Assistant Secretary of State specializing in Latin America, Otto Reich, said. "They are run like the Mafia would run a country if the Mafia, our own national Mafia, wherever they are, would run a country if they took it over."

1:06 p.m. ET - Chuck Norris, who backs Newt Gingrich and who supported Mike Huckabee in 2008, is the star of a video playing at a National Rifle Association booth.

"Too many people have forgotten our nation was founded to protect freedom, like our second amendment right to keep and bear arms," Norris says in the video. "Freedom is not about what government can do for us, but about keeping government from doing things to us."

12:40 p.m. ET - Former presidential contender and Rep. Michele Bachmann said running for the White House was a series of humiliating experiences. She made fun of previous gaffes when describing the three things she learned during her bid: Where John Wayne was born, the day Elvis Presley was born and to "never forget the three things that you learn."

12:35 p.m. ET - Rep. Steve King of Iowa criticized government regulation, particularly in the diet of Americans. Changing the calorie count in packaged foods will not achieve the desired goal, he said.

"You cannot fool them by cutting calories out of the candy bar," King said.

And to those who consider overweight young people to be a national security concern: "Just extend basic training."

12:21 p.m. ET - @PeterHambyCNN: Rick Perry tells reporters at CPAC: "I haven’t left the fight. I went home, I reloaded my mag, and I am fighting on different front."

12:15 p.m. ET - In light of the recent discussion surround federal funding for contraceptives, former GOP presidential candidate and Texas Gov. Rick Perry told reporters at CPAC he feels vindicated for saying in that Iowa TV ad that Obama is waging "a war on religion."

12:10 p.m. ET - @KilloughCNN reports: Janet Nelson, 70, and Jean Jordan, 65, describe themselves as two "political junkie" sisters from two different coasts. They reunited this week for the second year in a row at CPAC, with Nelson hailing from Washington and Jordan driving in from nearby Virginia.

Undecided on which candidate they will support for the Republican presidential candidate, both sisters said their main criteria is to find someone who will beat President Barack Obama.

"I really think independents are going to come over," Jordan said. "People who voted for Obama feel more or less betrayed."

The sisters said they're especially excited to see New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, but they get just as much, if not more, out of the lesser-known speakers.

This morning they said they were especially torn between two events.

"We were really conflicted at one point and ultimately had to give up Joe the Plumber for Marco Rubio," said Nelson.

12:06 p.m. ET - McConnell said presidents should "honor and embrace free exercise of religion, not suppress it," like President Obama has. The senior senator said Obama has forgotten he is supposed to lead all Americans and not be the president of the "Occupy Wall Street fan club."

11:54 a.m. ET - Rep. Tom Graves of Georgia said it may take a generation to fix the culture of government dependency.

"Fathers need to be teaching their children not to count on the government to take care of them," Graves said.

11:43 a.m. ET - Johnson sarcastically congratulated America for arriving at "European socialism" and blamed the president for "just running for reelection."

11:40 a.m. ET - Freshman Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin said "the left has been depressingly, depressingly successful at creating a culture of entitlement dependency." He went on to cite the number of Americans receiving food stamps and said too many Americans look to government for a false sense of security.

11:35 a.m. ET - @KilloughCNN reports: Spencer Chretien, a sophomore at the College of William and Mary, drove to CPAC with his school's college Republican group. Wearing a Rick Santorum sticker on his blazer, Chretien said he used to be a fan of former GOP presidential candidate and Rep. Michele Bachmann, but he recently became a supporter of the former Pennsylvania senator.

"He's the most conservative candidate," he said of Santorum, quickly adding that he doesn't like Newt Gingrich. "Newt would cost us House and Senate seats. He's highly erratic."

11:25 a.m. ET - Registration lines are starting to thin. Some attendees stood in line for more than one hour Thursday morning.

11:19 a.m. ET - Lee, a freshman senator who was elected in 2010 with support from the tea party movement, said he has been "disgusted" with more established representatives, who he said are content to increase the size of government and interfere in the day-to-day lives of Americans.

11:15 a.m. ET - @KilloughCNN reports: HSP Direct is selling official Rick Santorum sweater vests at $50 each. They have sold six in the last hour and hope to sell 250 this weekend. Only color available is navy blue.

11:04 a.m. ET - Rubio said the 2012 election is not between a "person we like and a person we don't" or between a Democrat and Republican, but between "someone who has failed ... and a change in direction."

"The stakes, I can't imagine them being any higher," he added.

11:01 a.m. - @PeterHambyCNN: most people at CPAC opt for suits and ties, but there's a fella here wearing a Tebow jersey
10:57 a.m. ET - @AdamATCNN: We need a CPAC glossary – Teleprompter: noun; Shorthand for 'the president may talk nice but he hasn't accomplished anything'

10:49 a.m. ET - Without economic reform, Rubio said the troubles in Europe will plague America.

"That's our future ... It is coming, we know that," Rubio said, unless the U.S. is able to strengthen the economy, government and its people.
10:45 a.m. ET - Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida criticized President Barack Obama and Democrats at the top of his address to the crowd. He said Republican primary fights are usually about who is most like Ronald Reagan, whereas Democrats "never fight about who's more like Jimmy Carter," a reference to the former Democratic president.

9:51 a.m. ET - @KilloughCNN reports: Former presidential candidate Herman Cain gave interviews in front of his bus, promoting his so-called solutions revolution. "It's time for another revolution. This time, it won't have bombs and bullets, but brains and balance." See the bus here.

9:40 p.m. ET - DeMint compared Republicans working with Democrats to the New England Patriots working with the New York Giants. He said compromise only works when the two teams have shared goals, which the two polititical parties in the U.S. do not.

9:43 a.m. ET - DeMint said the changing landscape in the presidential election is positive because it "scares them all." However, if Democratic Sen. Harry Reid remains majority leader, "it's a waste of a good president."

9:29 a.m. ET - South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint said the conference is "the huddle of the conservative movement ahead of the 2012 elections." The kingmaker said it energizes the party to "take the battle to the other side."

soundoff(114 Responses)

“Rand Paul question for the president: "Do you hate poor people or do you just hate poor people with jobs?"

Rand Paul against for minim wages so who hate poor people with jobs
Who wants dismantled education department so poor kids can’t education

February 9, 2012 05:39 pm at 5:39 pm |

Todd

Conservatives continue to fall further and further out of step with the American people. They are at this "special point" in history where they believe their old headlines from 25 years ago, but have no clue how far out of step they are with the rest of the nation and the world. As we have become more informed as a society and less reliant on single sourcing for our information, it becomes more and more difficult for the average American to read what is said and not simply scratch their head and wonder "How on earth did these people get elected?" 25 more years from now and these dinosaurs will be extinct. The Progressive movement will fracture slightly and the remnants will make up the new bodies of the two party system. Or perhaps I'm just an "old Pollyanna" ...Thank you Phyllis Schlafly.

February 9, 2012 05:45 pm at 5:45 pm |

Get Real

The GOP have become a party of moronic, backwards and just plain silly people. I'm embarassed. I cringe when I think other progressive nations are seeing and hearing them. They seem to be from another time, in a time warp. Message to world........as a whole, we are not this dumb.

February 9, 2012 05:51 pm at 5:51 pm |

DumbasRocks [R]s

This CPAC is the largest gathering of slack-jawed idiots ever seen in the western hemisphere. Their intellectual weight can be judged by the reality-deprived malignant morons on here who are the only ones that support them.

And the CPAC and their supporters call themselves "conservative"? Oh really? As an example, you need only take a look at the vapid comments by the likes of "Truth ansd Nothing" to see what kind of disconnected drama queens they are, with their empty and destructive rightwing worldview. Today's so-called "conservatives" conduct their lives by fairytales and by the empty rhetoric from the witless media figures they worship. If that is what passes for "conservatism" today, then there are a bunch of real American conservatives that are rolling in their graves.

As an Obama supporter, I can guarantee you that I have more real conservatism in my pinkie than these vapid screeching idiots have in their entire bodies.

February 9, 2012 06:05 pm at 6:05 pm |

evensteven

A group of very frightened people . . .

February 9, 2012 06:07 pm at 6:07 pm |

Dominican mama 4 Obama

CPAC- Conservative People Against the Country.

February 9, 2012 06:10 pm at 6:10 pm |

pmk1953

Reading the cpuke quotes makes me wish for retro-active birth control for repubs.

February 9, 2012 06:19 pm at 6:19 pm |

Patriot Awesome

1. The country was LOSING 750,000 jobs PER MONTH when the last Republican president left office.
2. The country has been ADDING 100,000 PER MONTH for the last 2 years. Over 2.5 million jobs have been added in the last 2 years. Check the Bureau of Labor Statistics if you don't buy it.
3. GDP was SHRINKING by an astonishing 8.9% when last Republican president left office.
4. GDP has been INCREASING for the last 9 quarters.
5. Osama bin Laden was still drawing breath when the last Republican president left office. He has a new address now. It's not quite as sunny as his compound in Pakistan.
6. Moammar Gadhafi was still drawing breath when the last Republican president left office. He's history now – for less than 1/1000th of the cost of the Iraq war and with ZERO AMERICAN CASUALTIES.
7. The Iraq and Afghanistan wars were still in full swing when the last Republican president left office.
8. 4500 American lives nearly a trillion dollars later, the justifiably unpopular war in Iraq is over. The end of the war in Afghanistan is also on the horizon – 10,000 troops came home in 2011 and about 25,000 will come home before summer's end, 2012. All American troops will be out by the end of 2014.
9. When the last Republican president left office, insurance companies were still free to drop people when they got sick or deny coverage to kids with asthma (a "preexisting condition"). Medical bills were the leading cause of personal bankruptcy in America and Republicans hadn't lifted a finger to change this.
10. Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, insurance companies will no longer be allowed to drop people or deny coverage on technicalities. Personal bankruptcies due to medical bills will decline dramatically in the coming years (since most of them are due to insurance company chicanery or lack of insurance).

February 9, 2012 06:26 pm at 6:26 pm |

Willie Floyd

I'll throw in a word of good news-God knows we need it. UNLESS he has changed his mind, Demented has said he will not run for re-election. Now if we could get the same from Joe (loudmouth you lie) Wilson our state might improve some.

OBAMA/BIDEN/2012

February 9, 2012 06:33 pm at 6:33 pm |

Deep North

After all is said and done, how many of these conservatives will entertain a madame this evening?